Editing McCurtain, Oklahoma (section)

==Economic Development==
McCurtain's rapid economic transformation began with the discovery of coal in 1889, the same year as the [[Land Run]]. This discovery attracted a diverse influx of people, including Eastern European miners and American entrepreneurs, fueling the town's growth. At the forefront of this mining boom was the Sans Bois Mining Company, or Sans Bois Coal Company. In 1901, industrialist [[Henry Clay Frick]], determined to source coal in his steel operations, purchased the Sans Bois Coal Company through ownership of the [[Fort Smith and Western Railway]].<ref name="EOHC-Fort Smith and Western Railroad">Augustus J. Veenendaal, Jr., [https://www.okhistory.org/publications/enc/entry?entry=FO040 Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture. "Fort Smith and Western Railway."] Retrieved March 3, 2024.</ref>

The town of McCurtain faced successive decades of economic decline following the tragic explosion at San Bois Coal Company's Mine Number Two. The 1912 tragedy would claim the lives of 73 miners and would begin a series of decades that included substantial population decline, decreases in job opportunities in the area, economically depressed residents would grow accustomed to severe poverty and even the next several generations that remained in the area live at or below the poverty level.<ref>United States Census Bureau  ''2020 U.S. Census'' (census bureau economic conditions.</ref>